Swedish journalist Kim Wall died when she was accidentally hit by a heavy hatch cover on board a home-made submarine, the Danish owner of the vessel has testified in court.
Peter Madsen, who denies killing her, said he was holding the hatch for Ms Wall as they sailed in the strait between Denmark and Sweden last month on the UC3 Nautilus submarine he had built.
With the vessel at the surface, he said he had crawled out through the hatch and was standing on top, while holding it open to let Ms Wall follow him. At that moment, the submarine was rocked by a wave from another boat.
"I lose my foothold and the hatch shuts," he told the Copenhagen court, saying Ms Wall was knocked to the floor.
"There was a pool of blood where she had landed."
A prosecutor also read earlier testimony from behind closed doors in which Mr Madsen said the impact had fractured the journalist's skull and killed her.
He said he tried to bury her at sea but denied mutilating her body, and added that he had contemplated killing himself while still on board.
Ms Wall, a 30-year-old freelance journalist who was researching a story on Mr Madsen, went missing after he took her out to sea in his 17-metre submarine on 10 August.
On 23 August, police identified a female torso that washed ashore in Copenhagen as Ms Wall's. The cause of her death has not been determined.
In court, Mr Madsen denied having amputated her limbs and said he dropped her "whole" body into the water, several hours after her death, after having a sleep because he was "tired and exhausted".
He admitted that he wanted to "bury her at sea" by attaching metal to the body in order for it to sink.
"I had no contact with the body and didn't want a dead body in my submarine," Mr Madsen told the court.
Police have charged Mr Madsen, 46, with killing the Swedish journalist, which could mean a sentence of five years to life in prison, and with abusing a corpse.
The Copenhagen district court will rule on whether to extend his custody and on what charges.
In its preliminary investigation, the court had ordered Mr Madsen detained until today on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
The submarine is one of three Mr Madsen had built and one of the largest privately built ones in the world.
It could carry eight people and weighed 40 tonnes fully equipped.
A day after taking Ms Wall out to sea, Mr Madsen was rescued in a navy operation after deliberately sinking the vessel.
